[Illustration: Fig. 101. Male colony; _a_ _a_ sterile individuals,
_b_ fertile individuals producing male Medusæ, _d_; _o_ globular
tentacles, _t_ slender tentacles of sterile individual.
(_Agassiz_.)]
_Hybocodon_. (_Hybocodon prolifer_ AG.)
Among our Medusæ derived from a Tubularian stock is the Hybocodon,
viz. the hunchbacked Medusa (Fig. 102), a singular little Jelly-fish,
odd and unsymmetrical in shape, as its name indicates, and interesting
from its relations to one of our floating communities, the Nanomia,
presently to be described. Instead of the evenly proportioned bell of
the ordinary Medusæ, the Hybocodon has a one-sided outline (Fig. 102),
one large tentacle only being fully developed, while the others remain
always abortive, so that the whole weight of the structure is thrown
on one half of the bell. Upon this large tentacle small Jelly-fishes,
similar to the original, are produced by budding, this process going
on till ten or twelve such Jelly-fishes (Fig. 103) may be seen
suspended from the tentacle. Up to this time it has remained connected
with the Hydroid from which it arises, a rather large Tubularian,
usually growing singly (Fig. 104), and of a deep orange-red in color.
But at this stage of its existence it frees itself, and leads an
independent life hereafter, swimming about with a quick, darting
motion. In the account of the Nanomia, the homology between its scale,
or abortive Medusa, and the Hybocodon, is traced in detail, and I need
only allude to it here. Though this Medusa is so peculiar in
appearance, the Tubularian from which it is derived is very like the
_Tubularia Couthouyi_, already described. This is one of the instances
before alluded to, in which closely allied forms give rise to very
dissimilar ones, or, as in many cases, the very reverse of this takes
place, and closely allied forms arise from very dissimilar ones.
[Illustration: Fig. 102. Unsymmetrical free Medusa of Hybocodon;
_r_ _o_ chymiferous tubes, _v_ proboscis, _s_ circular tube, _m_
young Medusæ at base of long tentacle _t_. (_Agassiz_.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 103. Medusa bud of Hybocodon; _a_ base of
attachment, _o_ proboscis, _c_ circular tube, _d_ young Medusæ at
base of long tentacle _t_. (_Agassiz_.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 104. Single head of Hybocodon Hydroid; _a_
stem, _d_ Medusæ buds, _o_ tentacles round mouth. (_Agassiz_.)]
_Dysmorphosa_. (_Dysmorphosa fulgurans_ A. AG.)
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